Good news everyone, we’ll soon have one less game launcher cluttering up our desktops. Bethesda has announced that they’re getting rid of the Bethesda Launcher, and will be moving back to Steam instead. Wait, there was a Bethesda Launcher?
“We’re saying goodbye to the Bethesda.net Launcher this year. We would like to thank you for your support and assure you that all of your games are safe,” they wrote. “If you do have games through the Bethesda.net launcher, don’t worry. Starting in early April you’ll be able to migrate your games and Wallet to your Steam account.”
While you're here, be sure to check out some of out favourite Skyrim wins and fails below.
You’ll be able to play any of your games on the Bethesda Launcher until May this year, but it’s recommended that you begin the migration as soon as possible. They clarified that your library will remain intact on Bethesda.net even after May, so presumably you’ll be able to migrate after then too, but there’s not really a whole lot of point in hoarding games you can’t actually play. Might as well just get on with it, eh?
Currently, there are no detailed instructions on how the whole process is going to work, but we’ve been reassured that no games, DLC or virtual currency will be lost in the process, and friends lists will also be merged, so you don’t need to worry about that either. This probably goes without saying, but yes, the transfer process will be free - you won’t have to buy anything again.
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One thing that is slightly concerning though is the phrasing surrounding save file transfer - although the FAQ list states that some saves will transfer automatically, and some will be done manually, it adds that “we expect almost all save progress to be transferable”. Note the “almost” there - it certainly suggests that players could lose their data for a number of games. It’s already been confirmed that this will be the case for Wolfenstein: Youngblood, although it’s not specified why.
As for the launcher itself, I can’t imagine anyone is really going to miss it - its very existence wasn’t the most widely known thing in the first place. First introduced in 2016, it’s had a fairly short run, but merging back into Steam is realistically only going to make things more convenient for everyone going forward. Apologies to anyone who has, for some reason, poured hundreds of hours into Wolfenstein: Youngblood, though.